Tuesday, 16 September 2014

The secret is out!

The build up to the next major run, to be held in 2016 continues. Of course, I'm meeting representatives from The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and The Children's Foundation next week to get the "sign off" on the run. I was, however, lucky enough to meet up with former Newcastle United and England captain Alan Shearer last week to explain all about my plans.

Alan Shearer is a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and was very supportive of my run across Australia. I remember the following message was sent at a time when I needed it most while running down under.

It was a surreal situation. Not only was I telling a closely guarded secret to someone, I was telling it to one of my all time Geordie heroes.

I talked in depth about
the route I'd chosen for 2016 and I think the picture below was taken just as
I was saying "I didn't realise just how huge a country ******** actually is". Of course, you'll get to
find out just what those asterisks are hiding in 5 weeks time!

I could tell from his reaction that he thought my plans for 2016 and beyond were very ambitious. Having ran down the UK and across the USA and Australia does help to give these kinds of conversations credibility however.

Alan's parting words were "That is a mad plan but best of luck.". This is just what I wanted to hear and to receive the endorsement of a patron of The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation never mind a Geordie legend is getting things off to the best possible start.

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I'm currently on a fundraising campaign to run 20,000 miles Around The World in aid of charities in the North East of England.

Whilst not pursuing a world record, the run is following two aspects of the Guinness World Record criteria used, not in running, but in cycling for “fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle”; To travel a minimum of 18,000 miles (28,968 km) and to travel through two approximate antipodal points (i.e. opposite points on the planet).

The purpose of using the criteria is to, at least, give credibility to the claim that I will “run around the world”.

The distance of my chosen route is 20,000 miles (32,189 km). The chosen antipodal points are La Coruña in Spain and Christchurch in New Zealand.

The run Around The World is split into 9 stages, some of which have been completed already: